Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market closed this short session on a positive note. The S&P 500 (+0.6%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.4%), and Russell 2000 (+0.4%) closed near all time highs. This marked record closing highs for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Rebound activity in chipmakers provided some support to the broader equity market after a Bloomberg report that the Biden administration might temper some of its export restrictions on semiconductor and semiconductor equipment sales to China. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) jumped 1.5% today, narrowing its loss this week to 0.6%.

A drop in market rates also contributed to the upside bias in equities. The 10-yr yield is down five basis points to 4.19% and the 2-yr yield is down four basis points to 4.17% at the time of this writing. The Treasury market closes at 2:00 p.m. ET today.

Many stocks participated in the broad advance that led nine of the S&P 500 sectors to close higher. The information technology sector was among the top performers, boosted by gains in its semiconductor components, along with gains in Apple (AAPL 237.33, +2.40, +1.0%) and Microsoft (MSFT 423.46, +0.47, +0.1%). MSFT initially traded down as much as 1.2% after a Bloomberg report indicating it might be facing a broad FTC investigation.

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.1%) was another top performer with many retailers logging outsized gains on Black Friday. 

There was no US economic data of note today. 

• Nasdaq Composite: +28.0%
• S&P 500: +26.5%
• S&P Midcap 400: +21.0%
• Russell 2000: +20.1%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +19.2%